Searril - I can't thank you enough for your thoughtful and profound contribution.
You're welcome. What the person wrote was correct, and I agreed with her.
Escaping Indoctrination - Faith Isn't a Virtue.
by cofty 144 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Searril
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jgnat
The story, nevertheless, has captured the imagination of....millions. Haven't we replicated the story again, say, in the Die Hard movies?
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cofty
The gospel story is of a wrathful god whose anger is propitiated by the sight of Jesus' broken and bleeding corpse on the cross.
If we assent to this notion we can escape his awful and eternal wrath for the crime of being born human. What is compelling about that?
Modern versions of the story that play down the more unpleasant parts are admittedly very popular.
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new hope and happiness
The gospel story is about this:-
A guatantee you will suddenly find out what its like to be respected.
Indoctrination is never a personal thing.
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jgnat
The god of the day reflects the mood of the people. During the middle ages (no longer fashionable to call it dark), life was brutish and short. Death was commonplace. A classical still life included the skull, as a reminder of our mortality.
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jgnat
There was a fatalistic view of the world and a serf, born a serf, fully expected to die as a serf. He could take comfort in the "wheel of fortune" that predicted even the fall of kings.
In other words, everyone gets their own in the end. A fatalistic view, a grimmer god.
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DJS
Jgnat,
Accurate but missing a few hundred thousand years. Until the 20th Century the average lifespan for humans was about 34, and life was brutish. Sanitation and especially chlorination of public water systems was the event which resulted in the greatest leap in lifespan.
It's always been difficult to be a human on this planet. A loving or caring god, even one that occasionally looked in on this master creation, wouldn't have allowed llife to be short and brutal from its beginning. Provide better instructions. Tell us about bacteria. The evidence for any god, whoever you want to call her, is missing. Creating stories in our minds from myths and legends to support things we really, really want to believe might help some get through difficult times (which for many humans has been their entire existence - and which explains all religions and beliefs of after life), but that's about it.
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Oubliette
DJS: Until the 20th Century the average lifespan for humans was about 34
This oft repeated factiod is misleading because it includes infant mortality rates which, until fairly recently, were very high:
Human Lifespans Nearly Constant for 2,000 Years
- "The inclusion of infant mortality rates in calculating life expectancy creates the mistaken impression that earlier generations died at a young age; Americans were not dying en masse at the age of 46 in 1907. The fact is that the maximum human lifespan — a concept often confused with "life expectancy" — has remained more or less the same for thousands of years. The idea that our ancestors routinely died young (say, at age 40) has no basis in scientific fact."
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Gentledawn
DJS: Until the 20th Century the average lifespan for humans was about 34
This oft repeated factiod is misleading because it includes infant mortality rates which, until fairly recently, were very high:
Human Lifespans Nearly Constant for 2,000 Years
"The inclusion of infant mortality rates in calculating life expectancy creates the mistaken impression that earlier generations died at a young age; Americans were not dying en masse at the age of 46 in 1907. The fact is that the maximum human lifespan — a concept often confused with "life expectancy" — has remained more or less the same for thousands of years. The idea that our ancestors routinely died young (say, at age 40) has no basis in scientific fact."----
Yup, yup. Infant/early childhood vaccinations/inoculations changed everything, as did cleanliness and sterilization (including fastidious hand washing) in the medical profession/hospitals.
The baby boom generation (babies born between 1945 - 1964. 1965 was first year of generation "x", if mem serves) wasn't just because of returning soldiers getting all happy about being back from WWII. It came right on the heels of mandatory childhood vaccinations, too.
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jgnat
What I was getting at is when life is hard and short and death is commonplace, the corresponding god is similarly harsh and brutal. We've softened, and we can afford to be generous. Now we have a softer, gentler god.
